The *Official* Cinema Blend Required Reading List

[Arctic]

For the complete cinemablend.com experience, be sure to check out all of these wonderful books:

Most important reads (3-way tie, 5 votes each, alphabetical):
1984 by George Orwell
The Hitchhiker series by Douglas Adams
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien


2nd Most important reads (3-way tie, 4 votes each, alphabetical):
Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien


3rd Most important read (3 votes):
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller


Other required reading (2 votes each, alphabetical):
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
IT by Stephen King
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Odyssey by Homer
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
The Stand by Stephen King
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
The Thrawn Trilogy - Star Wars - by Timothy Zahn
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

[masterthes]

Haven't read Ender's Game or Catch 22 yet. Neat that 1984 got a lot of votes.

[Arctic]

Just goes to show that we're a bunch of Big Brother hating, sci-fi/fantasy loving, dry-humoured, film enthusiasts.


i've read all of the most important ones, some of the second most important ones, all of the third most important one, and a few of the others. i guess i'll have to give the hobbit another try next, and then start in on star wars or one of the others.

[Arctic]

:bump

because not enough people have read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy around here. :p ;)

[redundo]

Haven't read; 1984, Don Quixote or Enders Game.

I've wanted to read both the first two just haven't gotten round to it and have never heard of Enders Game. Thanks for the heads up, I'll make sure ot give them a look!

[Josh]

An EXCELLENT list. I've read them all except Catch 22.

[blueteeth]

Originally posted by Arctic
because not enough people have read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy around here. :p ;) Yeah, and if there were more people around here who have people would be pretty psyched about the Major Hollywood Movie!!! (http://douglasadams.se/movie/) :)

[Brian]

Originally posted by blueteeth
Yeah, and if there were more people around here who have people would be pretty psyched about the Major Hollywood Movie!!! (http://douglasadams.se/movie/) :)

We already are! :dance

[redundo]

very Very VERY psyched!

:bjump :bpurple :bfunky

:bgroup

[eandcdad]

The sad thing is that I think I've only read one of these books by choice, "The Princess Bride." I've read a few others "1984," "Catcher in the Rye,"The Hobbit," and "Tom Sawyer" in high school, but that was at least 20 years ago or more.

[Justin]

1. The End of the Road - John Barth
2. Giles Goat Boy - John Barth
3. The Hobbit - Tolkien
4. LOTR - Tolkien
5. Faces in the Water - Janet Frame (NZ bias)
6. In my Fathers Den - Maurice Gee (NZ bias)
7. Tom Sawyer - Twain
8. Wuthering Heights - Bronte
9. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
10. Ragtime (E L Doctorow)

:) :D

[Luthien Tinuviel]

I would suggest everyone read "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath, but it depressed me for weeks on end. As it did everyone whom I recommened it to.

Yeah, so, I've been meaning to read 1984 for a looooooong time, but just haven't gotten around to it.

[Justin]

The Hobbit is a wonderful wonderful book, particularly the first chapter..it doesn't get any better when it comes to fantasy

;) :D

It's hard to compare some books to others as they are different genre, but I think Orwell should have made my top ten, "1984" was fab (sex crime) and to a lesser extent "Animal Farm"

OK put them in as 11 and 12.

I sometimes think we are headed the way of 1984 unfortunately

:chainsaw

Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy I hear so much about, but I still don't know what it's about, if you catch my drift

[garfield hates mondays]

Originally posted by Justin
Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy I hear so much about, but I still don't know what it's about, if you catch my drift

The end of the world and the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything.

[Justin]

And what was the conclusion, if any, ie. what is the meaning of life?

:bguitar

[redundo]

Originally posted by Justin
And what was the conclusion, if any, ie. what is the meaning of life?


42

:bdrum :bguitar

[Justin]

Thank Andy, I'm nowhere near there yet!!

:(

[Luthien Tinuviel]

It's about time for me to re-read LOTR...

[Justin]

Yeah, I try and re-read it once every 4 or 5 years

just read it last year to conincide with the movies

:rockband

"The Silmarillion" was difficult, read that in the early 90s and possibly once was enough :)

For mine, possibly 3rd most difficult read ever behind the obscure "Ulysses" and "Moby Dick", in that order.

[legna]

You know- I have read almost NOTHING on this list.
The Whitching Hour yes. The Hobbit when I was 9 (so that doesn't count really), The LOTR 3 years ago (which nearly got my lynched), and the Harry Potter Series. I THINK I read Hitchickers once but I can't remember.

[Wiggum]

Catcher in the Rye and The Princess Bride will be read by me for The Book Challenge.

[Abscynthe]

Yep, for the Book Challenge it's required to pick one book off the Required Reading List.

I may pick either1984, or Ender's Game.

[masterthes]

I thought it said two :lol

Damn, I've almost read all those books

[Abscynthe]

I thought it said two :lol

Damn, I've almost read all those books

Nope, you are correct, sir. ;)

Damn, it's bad when I don't remember the particulars of the challenge! :lol

[Justin]

It's about time you re-read The Hobbit I think Legna...

I'm assuming you're now much older than 9 :lol

[legna]

*looks at body* Yes somewhere I changed from nine to almost 30.....eep!

[masterthes]

Seeing as how long ago that list was, maybe we should compile a new list so that the newer members can sound off

[Abscynthe]

Sounds like a good idea, Master. I'll head that up when I get back from my trip.

[eandcdad]

For the book challenge, I'll read The Hobbit and Catch-22.

[redundo]

I'm going for 1984 and Enders Game too.

Though i'll try and get to all the other books on the list that I haven't read yet.

[Arctic]

the Hobbit will be one of them. haven't decided on the other yet.

[masterthes]

I'm going to try not to reread any for the Challenge, so maybe over the course of the year I might purchase Lord of the Flies and Stranger in a Strange Land or Ender's Game

[MRPween]

1984 by George Orwell - Check
The Hitchhiker series by Douglas Adams - Check
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - Check
Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes - This WILL be my next purchase now!
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - Check
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - Check
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller - Check
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - nope
The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov - Check
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling - Check
IT by Stephen King - Nope - reading the dark tower series now (just finished 4th one) - only King I have read
Lord of the Flies by William Golding - God, I must read this book!
The Odyssey by Homer - Never fancied this, should probably give it a go.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman - Check
The Stand by Stephen King - see above
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein - wtf is this? never heard of it
The Thrawn Trilogy - Star Wars - by Timothy Zahn - nope - and never will. hate fan fiction.
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain - Never fancied this - I think its a very american book? Did read 'to kill a mocking bird'- that was really good and not even mentioned!
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice - wtf is this? never heard of it

I missed the voting, but what happened to:

His dark material trilogy - Philip Pullman
(at least one of Iain M Banks' )
Excession
Look to windward
The Algebraist
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
(both of)
Shogun - James Clavell
Tai Pan - James Clavell
Good Omens - Terry Pratchette & Neil Gaiman
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Life of Pi -Yann Martel
Winnie the Pooh/ The house at pooh corner - AA Milne

[eandcdad]

I missed the voting, but what happened to:

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon


Good call on both of these. Anyone who hasn't read The Curious Incident should put it on their book challenge list, best book I read in 2004.

[masterthes]

Too current on both of those, and the Thrawn trilogy isn't fan fiction :lol Anyway, here's my checklist.

Most important reads (3-way tie, 5 votes each, alphabetical):
1984 by George Orwell- Had to read it in school, would have probably ended up reading it regardless
The Hitchhiker series by Douglas Adams- Naturally
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien- Oh yeah


2nd Most important reads (3-way tie, 4 votes each, alphabetical):
Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes- Check
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card- Nope
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien-Yes


3rd Most important read (3 votes):
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller- My favorite book of last year actually


Other required reading (2 votes each, alphabetical):
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger- Holden rocks so much
The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov- Nope
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling- Check
IT by Stephen King- And enjoyed every last minute of it
Lord of the Flies by William Golding- You'd think I would have
The Odyssey by Homer- Would be a crime not to (should have included The Iliad as well)
The Princess Bride by William Goldman- My favorite required reading in high school
The Stand by Stephen King- Yeppers
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein- Nope
The Thrawn Trilogy - Star Wars - by Timothy Zahn- Nada
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain- One of the first novels ever read to me (should have Huck Finn here as well)
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice- Loved it